


Lingering Thought

by Hatter_and_his_tea



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020), Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: F/M, and others - Freeform, i dont know what im doing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27853522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hatter_and_his_tea/pseuds/Hatter_and_his_tea
Summary: "I want to protect." "I'll protect them now." are some of the lingering thought. One Shot.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	Lingering Thought

**Author's Note:**

> I dont know what I'm doing, I just have feelingzzz and words that need to be put down.

_ “I want to protect.” _

The thought lingered in his mind.

He dreamt of the darkness as he floated in that Mako infused liquid. With every passing moment, a part of him died, replaced by something else. 

_ “I just want to protect…” _ The thought continued, repeating inside the unconscious mind. 

He held onto that while pieces of him continued to disappear, memories, feelings, he felt like an empty shell. 

The day the liquid drained out of him, he heard a voice.

“Cloud.” The voice said. 

He wondered if that was his name. 

The voice continued talking to him, of events and memories he did not know. He couldn’t feel the flow of time, not knowing how long the voice was talking to him. 

As he felt his head being shaken, he reached out, to the fading figure enveloped by the light. 

The voice stopped then and he became scared of the darkness once more. 

_ “I want to protect…” _ The thought returned.

Fighting the darkness that surrounded him, he awoke, adjusting his eyes to the grey steel sky. 

He noticed the rain dripping down but barely felt the cold wet droplets hitting his face. There was an emptiness inside him, except for that desire. 

Crawling on that wet ground, he moved his heavy vessel-like-body towards the writhing figure. 

The man on the ground stared towards him.

“Zack…” He whispered. The name slipped out of him easily. 

There was a soft smile.

“B-Both of us…” The voice returned, coarser and out-of-breath. 

He was soon pulled in by the familiar warmth on his head. 

“Live…” The voice continued. “... -my living legacy.” 

As the warmth dispitate, he noticed the heavy object on his side.

“My honors, my dreams… they are yours now.” 

The weight of the sword hit him and the voice was no longer there. 

“I am… your living legacy.”

_ “I just want to protect…” _

….

Tifa read the black and white newspaper everyday. 

It has become her morning routine and today was no different as Barret handed her the today’s edition.

She thanked him and began scouring every word, reading every headline. Marlene, who was sitting next to her, looked at her with curious eyes. 

“What are you reading?” The little girl asked.

“The news.” She replied with a smile.

“Is it good?” Marlene continued.

“Some are, some not.” She answered.

The world appeared to be bleaker with every passing day. Talk of war, tension between parts of the world, poverty, unemployment, monsters sighting… filled the majority of the news again, just like yesterday, the day before that and months before that. 

There was once a time where she would be upset from reading the horrible news. She took it to the heart, even imagining the tragedy actually happened to that particular someone. 

Her father would then comfort her, suggesting that the world wasn’t that bad and gave her a tight hug before leaving for work. 

But now, after losing that comfort and a place to call home, she didn’t know what to think of the world anymore. 

She had lost everything and the newspaper didn’t even mention their tragedy. Instead, the world mourned for her father’s killer. 

“Where are you, Cloud…” She whispered, wondering if the boy even knew his mother’s fate. 

“Cloud?” Marlene caught her whisper. “Like the one in the sky?” She continued innocently. 

“It’ll be cloudy today? Damn!” Barret chimed in, continuing the misunderstanding. 

Tifa laughed, smiling widely. 

_ “I’ll protect them this time.” _

…

The first time she saw him, she noticed a change, particularly that eyes of him. 

It wasn’t just the colour, but the way he looked at her. 

It was scary.

_ “It’s the Mako.” _ They all said.

But she noticed the change within the boy. The Cloud that she found in the station wasn’t the same person that she grew up with. 

It wasn’t just the time distance between them, it wasn’t just the mess up timeline, there was something within him that wasn’t part of him.

And now, as she glanced towards that same eyes, she smiled.

“Tifa, we meet again…” He told her.

“Yes Cloud!” She cried, wrapping her arms around him.

This time, it was her turn with the tight embrace. 

…..

The noise was overwhelming. She could hear Barret’s laughter echoing against the steel wall, mixed with Cid’s drunken rambling and Yuffie’s loud argument against Cait Sith. Vincent was in the corner, sipping homemade Correl wine with Red XIII beside him. They were talking.

Cloud… He was in the middle, alongside Denzel and Marlene, taking lectures from all of them with his head down like a kid.

Tifa felt a sense of relief. The fighting was over, no more Geostigma, no more traces of Sephiroth. Denzel is alive and Cloud has finally come home.

With the last dish done, she turned off the tap.

_ The blood on their hands, would they ever be washed off? _ She pondered. 

_ Were they any better from Shin-ra? From the monsters? From Sephiroth? All she wanted was to protect… and revenge. _

Tifa shook her head, knowing there was no point in delving back to that, not now, not never.

She wiped the table clean and was about to join the others when Cloud approached her.

“We ran out of wine… Barret drank the last barrel in one go… with Cid.” He said, noticeably exhausted from the lecture. 

“There should be some more in the back. I’ll go get it.” She replied with a soft time. 

“N-no, I’ll get it.” Cloud quickly replied and was about to turn around when she stopped him. 

“No- we moved it from the usual place when you weren’t here.” Tifa opened and closed her mouth immediately when she realized it. “I-I’ll get it.” She said, walking past Cloud. 

She tried not to look at him. She was fine. She told herself. 

She was fine when Cloud started acting differently, and when he left, never returning. 

She was fine when she saw the dark coloured bandage and when Cloud almost died in the explosion. 

She was fine. 

Tifa went into the makeshift room that turned into a cellar. They moved the wine due to heating equipment they installed a while ago, to help keep the house warm for Denzel. 

There were barrels full of Correl wine. Tifa was about to lift one when she noticed tears were slipping out of her eyes. 

“Eh?” She questioned herself. 

She wiped the tears that continued to fall. The emotions that were bottled up suddenly poured. 

It wasn’t just sadness or worries, it was also relief and happiness, but the tears won’t stop. The weight of the world felt upon her. 

“Tifa…”

The voice spooked her. It was Cloud. 

“I-I’m fine.” She told him, despite her quivering voice. “It just started suddenly.” She continued, turning around to give him a smile. 

She felt a warm and tight hug instead. 

“I’m sorry.” Cloud apologized. “I’m sorry…”

He tightened the arms around her. 

She felt like a kid again, with tears that continued to pour. 

As she buried her head against his chest, she felt another warmth against her back. It was Barret who squashed the both of them for a drunken hug. She could smell the strong alcohol coming from him. 

With Cloud protesting from the pain, she let out a small laugh when Yuffie suddenly joined in. The girl leaped from the floor with arms wide open, catching the three of them. 

Cid, Cait Sith, and Red XIII followed, as well as Vincent after some nagging from Yuffie. 

The kids were laughing and asking to join. 

It was home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. This is probably the last fic for FF until part 2 or if I have some more feelingzzzzzz...  
> Kudos or comments are appreciated.
> 
> Also I sneaked in some 9 and Nier reference.


End file.
